Simmons University School of Library and Information Science is proud to welcome Allen Smith Visiting Scholar Heidi Julien, Professor and Exceptional Scholar (Sustained Achievement) in the Department of Information Science at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY).
As the Allen Smith Visiting Scholar, Dr. Julien will give a keynote address on the topic of Misinformation and lead a panel on the power of Interdisciplinary Research.
Details
Misinformation and Information Behavior: Challenges for the Information Professions
Monday, February 26 at 5 pm
C-503 or Zoom, Reception to follow
Misinformation and disinformation are not new phenomena but are particularly concerning in the era of social media. This talk explores how mis- and dis-information spread, and how people’s information behavior both facilitates this spread, and challenges attempts to counter it. The potential roles of information professionals in mitigating mis- and dis-information will also be explored.
The Power of Interdisciplinary Research
Thursday, February 29 at 5 pm
C-503 or Zoom, Light refreshments to follow
Interdisciplinary research (IDR) is widely encouraged, and holds significant intellectual power, in addition to benefits for individual scholars, academic institutions, and external communities. This talk will briefly review the history of IDR and current trends in IDR. It will also provide an overview of the advantages of IDR, as well as discuss some of the cautions for scholars engaging in it. The talk will draw on research, as well as the personal experiences of the speaker.
Panelists
- Amy Pattee, Profesor, SLIS and Children’s Literature
- Briana Martino, Professor, Communications
- Kristen Brewer, Assistant Professor, Public Health
- Lauren Trichtinger, Assistant Professor, Mathematics, Computing and Statistics
- Lydia Ogden, Associate Professor and Director of CIBER, Social Work
- Nanette Veilleux, Professor, Mathematics, Computing and Statistics
- Rhiannon Bettivia, Assistant Professor, SLIS
About Dr. Heidi Julien
Dr. Heidi Julien is a Professor and Exceptional Scholar (Sustained Achievement) in the Department of Information Science at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY). She has taught at the University of Alberta and Dalhousie University in Canada, and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and has been hosted as a visiting professor in Australia, China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Scotland, and South Africa. Her research interests are interdisciplinary, with a focus on digital literacy and information behavior. She has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (U.S.), among other agencies. She is a Senior Editor for the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, the premier journal in Information Science. Dr. Julien is a past-president of the Association for Library & Information Science Education (ALISE), and a past-president of the Canadian Association of Information Science, as well as a Distinguished Member of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T). She won the 2020 ASIS&T SIGUSE Outstanding Contributions to Information Behavior Award, the 2021 Service to ALISE Award, and the 2023 Canadian Association for Information Science Career Award.